Diet of the Dwarf Cassowary Casuarius bennetti picticollis at Wau, Papua New Guinea

Abstract

This paper describes the diet of the Dwarf Cassowary in a lower montane forest at Wau in Papua New Guinea. The forty-three droppings examined contained mostly fruit, of at least thirty-four species. Dwarf Cassowaries eat relatively large fruit, a diet more similar to flying foxes than to other birds. Droppings contained an average of 3.6 species of fruits indicating that Dwarf Cassowaries exploit a variety of food trees at any one time.